The First Son
by Dimples
Summary: The future is all mixed up after Prue's death, Piper and Leo's first child is a boy who is powerless. When a demon kidnaps his newborn sister five years later, can the Charmed Son live up to his unknown title? *FINAL PART UP NOW!*
1. Powerless

The First Son

Part 1: Powerless

-With the future all mixed up after Prue's death, Piper and Leo's first child happens to be a boy, who is born powerless. This doesn't bother him until his little sister is born with the power to freeze time. Can Piper and Leo help their son find his wings?

"Piper, this is hardly the time to be worrying about something like that! What would it matter if he had powers or not? We'll love him just the same." Leo laid the tiny bundle he carried into his wife's waiting arms, careful not to jar the IV that was inserted into her hand. The newborn inside scrunched up his face, as if he was about to cry, then relaxed in his mother's gentle grip.

"But what if he is powerless, Leo? It'll be okay for a while, but what if we have other children? Children with powers? That would be so unfair to him." Piper listened to her son breathing against her chest and she watched as he wrapped an elfin hand around her finger. His grasp was strong for being only a day old. He still smelled new, his downy hair sticking out in all directions. 

"We'll get to that bridge when we cross it. Besides, I thought you'd want our children to have a normal life. That's what we've been waiting for for the past three years, isn't it? A chance to bring our child into a safe world? If our son doesn't have any powers, then-"

"Then it'll make him vulnerable if a demon attacks," Piper cut him off sharply, waking the boy sleeping in her arms. He wailed loudly, and she tried to rock him, but her position on the hard hospital bed made it difficult. Leo appraised them both as Piper grunted in frustration.

"A little help here, Leo, if you wouldn't mind." Piper looked into her son's deep brown eyes and saw her own face for a moment. She saw Leo in his hair and high cheeks, her mother and Phoebe in his nose, her father and Prue in his chin... Prue. She would have loved to see this. See that her little sister had finally found the happiness she had always wanted. Tears began welling up in Piper's eyes as Leo took the baby from her and started bobbing around the room. 

He was quiet for a few minutes, just reveling in the glory of being a father, then he spoke softly. "We still haven't picked out a name yet. What should we name our son, Piper?" He said the words proudly. 'Our son'. Piper felt fulfilled at the statement and thought about it briefly, then sat upright on the bed. 

"What was your father's name?" she asked, hoping to get a few ideas. 

Leo stopped bobbing and shook his head gravely. "We are not naming my son Bartholomew." Piper let out a muffled laugh and he glared at her evilly. "What about your father? Victor is a good name."

Pier hesitated. "I don't know, Leo. I don't want to judge him yet, after he's been gone for twenty years and then suddenly comes back to make up for lost time. It would be like rewarding him for never being there."

"But it also might give him a reason to stick around. You'll have a father again. I'll show him that whitelighters aren't so bad, and this little guy," he nodded at the squirming infant. "will make him never want to leave." Leo kissed him on the top of his head lightly and he began to wail. "I think he's hungry, Mommy." 

Piper took the child back and trembled slightly as she had her first attempt at breast-feeding. Leo stood close by in case she needed him, but she was determined to do it on her own. When he finally began to drink, Piper gritted her teeth. "God, he's a barracuda. I don't think I'll be able to do this for eight more months, Leo. Do you want to try?"

Leo laughed heartily and waved his hands in the air. "Sorry, sweetie, but that's a little out of my job description. I can, however, do diaper changes, and 3 A.M feedings - with a bottle of course -, and-"

Piper threw a spit up rag at him. "Enough! I get it." She continued laughing as the babe drank deeply of her milk, until he was full and tired. She burped him gently, and then handed him to Leo to lay in the small plastic crib by her bed. 

"How about Rueben?" Leo asked after a few seconds of silent reflection. "I've been looking up some names in the baby books you got at the shower, and Rueben means 'behold, a son'." 

Piper looked at him inquisitively. "That was two months ago. You remembered that from back then? And when we supposed to be having a girl?"

"Well," Leo paused. "Well, actually, I cheated. I looked it up right after he was born, while you were asleep. You can imagine the shock I was in. I have a boy, not a girl. I guess that's a good thing. There are too many girls running around the manor. Now I can have someone to watch football with and play catch with, and build model airplanes with…" 

"What is with you and making lists today?" Piper teased, poking him gently. He leaned over and kissed her softly on the lips once, then gazed at her lovingly. He kissed her again, tracing her jaw line with each one. "Leo!"

They were rudely interrupted by a sudden rap at the door, which swung open with a quiet squeak. Two slim figures entered, carrying flowers, junk food, and an extremely large stuffed bear that was suspended between the two of them. 

"Let me see my nephew! I want to see him now!" Phoebe Halliwell's voice echoed through the room and shook the windows as she dropped her half of the bear and jogged over to the crib. "Oh, here's my little nameless nephew-kins. How's the baby-waby? Ah-boo-boo. Yes, that's a good boy." The baby remained motionless in the cradle. 

"Hey Phoebe, nice to see you. Who the stranger with the bear?" Piper pointed at the other woman at the door, who was struggling to hold onto the animal and the large bag of Doritos in her hands. 

"Oh! Paige, I'm so sorry!" Phoebe ran back to her younger sister and took the bear from her. Paige rolled her eyes and gave Leo a hug as she passed him on her way over to Piper. 

"Piper, he's beautiful! But weren't you supposed to have a girl first? You said that in the future you had a daughter." Paige sat down on the edge of the bed took Piper's hand. Phoebe pulled a chair around the other side and sat down with her head on Piper's shoulder.

"Well, there were a lot of things we saw in the future that won't be happening now. I just hope that Rueben can handle being part of a Wiccan family, if he doesn't have any powers."

Paige squinted at her. "Rueben?"

"That was my idea, actually," Leo said, raising his index finger in the air to get their attention. They glanced at him briefly then turned back to their bed-ridden sister. 

"What do you mean, 'if he doesn't have any powers?" Phoebe asked, her eyes narrowed. "He has to have powers. He's the son of a Charmed One."

"That's exactly why he may not have powers. Because he's the _son _of a Charmed One. Sure, men can be witches, but I don't think they are born with the power. And if he isn't born with it, he'll never be strong enough to defend himself against a demon." Piper reached out to stroke Rueben's small hand. Would he have a power? Could he? She looked up at her sisters, who had nothing but admiration in their eyes. She smiled at them, and then acknowledged Leo, who was waiting patiently in the corner. "Is there any way we can find out now, whether he has powers or not? Can't They help us?"

Leo shrugged. " I can ask. Do you want me to take him with me? If nothing more they can give a blessing. That ought to be nice." His wife nodded and Leo delicately lifted the sleeping baby up into his arms. "I'll be back soon." He disappeared in a flash of blue light, leaving Piper alone to gush with her sisters.

"Honey, I always knew you'd have the cutest little baby in the whole, wide, world." Phoebe continued to speak baby talk, even though the baby was no longer in the room.

"He is great, isn't he?" Piper shifted uncomfortably, her body still aching from the pain of childbirth. Eighteen hours of childbirth, to be exact. The contractions had come early in the day, while she was at P3. Not wanting to disturb the customers who had already begun to flock towards the bar, she had quietly entered her office and screamed for Leo, who came a second later. Paige was at work, and Phoebe was off at an interview, so they were both unreachable. It hadn't taken them long to figure out Leo's cryptic message on their answering machine at home, though. '_Paige, Phoebe, whenever you get this, Piper and I are at the hospital, meet us there when you can. No hurry. This might take a while…'_

"Why'd you name him Rueben? That's a kind of obscure name, isn't it?" Paige furrowed her brows in deep thought. 

"I don't know. It just fits. Leo found it just after the baby was born. It means 'behold, a son'. I guess it works, considering we all thought it was going to be a girl… It's a good thing we didn't decorate in pink. Otherwise we'd be in a lot of trouble." Piper groaned as a wave of pain swept through her lower region. Phoebe jumped and Paige proceeded in calling a nurse from the bedside. 

"Help! Someone!"

Piper clapped her hand over her youngest sister's mouth. "Don't. I'm just a little sore, that's all. You have no idea how much pain labor is until you've done it yourself." She readjusted in against the pillows so her back was lower on the bed.

"Oh, poor baby." Phoebe kissed the top of her head. "I can't even begin to imagine. When I get pregnant the first thing I'm going to do is plan a cesarean. I don't have a very high threshold for pain." She got up and retrieved the Doritos from the table where Paige had thrown them, and placed the open bag on Piper's stomach where all three could reach. The conversation drifted from Rueben to pregnancy to food, and finally to Prue.

"I just wish I could've met her," Paige sighed, swallowing the last crumbs of the chips. "I know I would have loved her, from all that you guys tell me… And she would have loved seeing this even more. It kinda makes me wish that I wasn't here, you know? Then you'd still have Prue, you're lives wouldn't be as screwed up as they are now, and everyone would be happy."

"But then we would never have met you," Phoebe put in. "And this is where you belong. With your family. We'll always miss Prue, but we have you to help us get through it. Maybe one day you'll get to meet her, face to face. Maybe that'll help you see that you were meant to be with us."

Piper listened intently, nodding and squeezing Paige's cheese covered hand. "Maybe even sooner than you think. If we-" She was interrupted by a flash of blue light as Leo orbed back into the room, his face no longer gleaming with the joyous smile of parenthood. Rueben squirmed in his arms, but made no noise as Leo handed him back to Piper. She looked at her son, then her sisters, and finally to her husband. "Well? What happened?"

Leo lowered his head in anguish. "I'm sorry, Piper. He was tested, but they couldn't find even a trace of magic."


	2. The Reunion

The First Son

Part 2: A Reunion

One week after Leo had brought the fateful news, Piper and Rueben were released. Leo made a spectacle of them all by showing up with the Jeep covered in 'It's a Boy!' stickers. Piper placed her son in the new Eddie Bauer car seat and buckled him in securely. Leo drove with Paige in the front, while Piper and Phoebe stayed in the back to coo over the baby. Nothing could have ruined that day for them, and nothing did, even when Leo was called away momentarily by the council. Piper had only a few minutes to fume, and then he was back with a big grin on his face and some incredible news.

"Prue wants to see him."

All three sisters immediately stopped what they were doing. They gave him a blank stare, then looked at each other and screamed. 

"Oh my God!"

"I can't believe she's coming back!"

"Will I really get to meet her?"

Everyone began talking at once, the decibels increasing with each word. Rueben joined in and started to howl, drowning them all out. Piper picked him up and walked briskly around the room, bobbing as Leo had before. "I'm sorry, Rueben. Mommy's sorry. She's just a little excited... and scared. God, Leo. They're really let her visit?" Leo nodded, still smiling insanely. "Well, then. Let's get cleaned up." 

There was a stampede towards the door as both Paige and Phoebe tried to get out at the same time. Leo came from behind and pushed them through, and then he shut the door after them. "We need a bigger house."

Piper laughed and slowed down her bobbing. She was quiet for while as Leo changed into a fresh shirt, then she spoke. "I'm scared, Leo."

He went over to her and wrapped his arms around her and his son careful not to disturb him. "I know, honey. It'll be all right, though. It'll be better than all right. It's going to be great." 

"But it's been three years, Leo. We've changed, and what if she doesn't like the change? What if she doesn't like Paige? I don't know what'll happen then." Piper laid her head on his broad chest and sighed. "I've missed her so much. And now she comes, after all this time. God, I've just missed her."

Kissing the top of her head, Leo nodded. "I know." That was all he could say. "I know."

***

__

Hear these words, hear my cry

Spirits from the other side

Come to me, I summon thee

'Cross now, the great divide

The sisters read aloud from the book, watching the arranged candles flicker in the dusk hour. A choking tension filled the room as golden orbs began to circulate within the circle of candles, and a form took shape. It was faint, nearly transparent, but it grew into an opaque figure, clothed in a white silken gown that dragged beautifully on the floor. Her pale skin contrasted sharply with her raven hair, and as she lifted her head, you could see the wonder in her bright blue eyes.

"Prue."

The figure nodded and stepped out of the circle towards Piper. She didn't speak as she reached for the precious parcel that her sister held. Piper let the baby gently into Prue's awaiting arms, in case she was only dreaming and her child might fall. But no. Rueben settled calmly into the steady arms of his deceased aunt, and closed his eyes to sleep.

"He's beautiful, Piper," Prue whispered as she stroked a finger along his brow. "Even if he isn't a girl."

Piper laughed shakily and nodded towards Paige. "I think there's someone you ought to meet."

The youngest Halliwell stepped out from behind Phoebe and stood next to Piper, her head lowered slightly in the presence of her eldest sister. "I-I… I'm P-Paige."

Prue smiled. "I know. It's great to finally meet you." She handed Rueben back to Piper and hugged Paige tightly around the shoulders. "Welcome home." She went next to Phoebe and kissed her on the cheek before hugging her. "You're not the baby any more. So I can't call you my baby sister, but I can say that I was wrong, about you and Cole. He's a great man, Phoebe. Don't ever doubt him. He'll be faithful." She winked and walked over to Leo. "Ah, the man of the hour. I knew you knock my sister up sooner or later, but couldn't you have waited to give her a boy? They're so messy." She squeezed his hand and smiled as she moved onto her final relative. "I'm sorry I left you, Piper. I'm sorry you had to bear the burden of the oldest sister when you weren't ready for it, and I'm sorry that I wasn't there when your child was born. I'm-"

Piper held up her hand. "No. Don't. I don't want you to apologize to me, for anything. I just want you to stay for a little while longer, so you can be my sister again." A crystalline tear fell softly from the corner of her eye as Prue reached out and cupped her cheek gently. "Say you'll stay, if only for a little while." 

"Yes, I'll stay."

***

"I've missed you guys."

Prue, Piper, and Phoebe were all gathered in a tight circle on the floor of the attic, while Paige sat in the over-stuffed armchair in the corner, watching. Prue was even more beautiful in person than in her pictures. The perfect contours of her face made her eyes stand out so they seemed the size of half-dollars. It just made Paige all the more shy when it came to socializing with her sisters. 

"We missed you, too. It's been three years, Prue. Three years of hell without you. But we did it. We vanquished the Source." Piper pointed at the handmade wooden bassinet by the window where Rueben lay asleep. "And then he came along. It was an amazing feeling, Prue, having a life growing inside of you. I don't think I've ever been as happy… or as sad."

Prue frowned. "Leo told me. I'm sorry he's powerless Piper, but think. He'll have a normal life now. Free from all the hassles that some with being a witch. Free from all the dangers…"

"I'm not sure whether or not I like that he doesn't have any powers, but at least I know that demons won't want to kill him because he's a threat." Piper leaned against Prue's shoulder, while Phoebe placed her head on the eldest's leg so she could sprawl out on the bed. 

"But a demon might want to kill him to hurt you," Paige said quietly from her corner. "You're still a Charmed One, after all."

Prue looked up over Piper's head. "What's that honey? Why don't you come over here. This is a sister conversation and you are our sister, so get you skinny ass over here." 

Paige hesitated but ambled over to the bed slowly. She sat down on the edge stiffly, but Phoebe grabbed her arm and pulled her back into the pile of people. 

"Hey!"

"When we have sister talks, we sit in a pile. So find a leg or an arm and get comfy. 'cuz we might be here a while." Prue held her hand through the night as they babbled long past dawn and into the next morning. The sun was high in the sky when Rueben cried for the first time, louder and louder as he clamored to get his mother's attention. Leo pushed open the door to get his son only, to find all four women jumping to be the first to hold him. The baby was passed around from sister to sister to brother-in-law/husband and back again, until he was too tired to do anything but whimper. 

"Put him back to bed. Let him sleep." Prue brushed out her gown and stood by the door. "The next time I come maybe he'll be a little more talkative."

Silence gripped at the throats of the group. She was leaving again. 

"God, I wish you could stay," Piper embraced her sister firmly, burying her face into the silk of Prue's dress. She cried in silence, her body shaking softly as the other two reached around her to do the same thing. "Promise you'll come back."

Prue's tears were muffled by the mass of bodies around her, but she nodded into them. "I promise." One by one the girls let go, and they watched their sister wave as she vanished in a shimmer of golden light.

__


	3. The Coming

The First Son

Part 3: The Coming

            "Rueben! Stop it! Get down from there right now!"

            The kindergartener looked down at his mother from his perch atop a chair that he had somehow gotten on top of the kitchen table. 

            "I do _not have the energy for this. Oh, my back…" Piper rubbed her shoulders absently as she placed her hand on her bulging stomach. With only two months to go until her next child was born, she found herself experiencing random aches and pains more often than not. _

            "Come on, Cap," Leo called said as he lifted his grinning son off the table. "Get off the table. You're upsetting your mom. How'd you get that thing up there anyway?"

            Rueben grinned again. "'S a secret."

            Leo frowned. "Do you remember what we've told you? There are no secrets in this house. If you see something, or if something weird happens, you have to tell us right away. So, let me ask you again. Hoe did the chair get on the table?"

            "Aunt Prue put it there."

            Piper glanced up from her silent self-pity and blink. "Excuse me?"

            "What do you mean, Aunt Prue put it there? Cap, you know she died before you were born." Leo glared at Piper. "You've been telling him too many bedtime stories."

            "I have not! It's you! You're the one who always gets to tuck him in! I'm just the woman that gave him life!" Piper snorted and poured herself a cup of cold coffee. 

            Rueben tugged on his father's sleeve. "She comes to visit me sometimes. We were going to build a fort out of the table. Can I still make a fort, Dad?" 

            Leo nodded and looked back at Piper. She took a sip of her coffee and spit it into the sink, disgusted. "Can she do that, Leo? Just come back whenever she wants?"

            He shrugged. "There's one way to find out."     

            "The book." Piper turned on her heel and headed up the stairs. By the time Leo had entered the attic behind her, the candles that they needed for the spell were already lit and set in a circle. 

            "Maybe you should call your sisters, "Leo said as he bit his lip nervously. "You aren't the only one who wants to see Prue again."

            Piper huffed and blew a piece of hair out of her eyes. "Fine. Phoebe! Paige! Come here, I need you!"

            The pounding of feet on the stairs made Leo wheel around and orb just as Paige was about to bowl him over. "What?! What is it? Is it time? Are you having contractions?" She heaved as Phoebe came up behind her and grabbed her elbow to slow herself down.

            "No," Piper rolled her eyes. "Not yet, thank God. But I thought that you ought to be here when I call Prue again."

            "Actually, that was my idea," Leo said as orbed back into the room. Phoebe arched her eyebrows in question, so he explained more thoroughly. "It turns out that Prue has been visiting Rueben without permission from the elders."

            "And now we have to summon her. Get some answers." Piper began flipping through the book, searching for the spell. 

            Paige took her sister's hand gently, saying, "I think we all know the spell my now, Piper." The eldest nodded and they stood together while they recited. 

_Hear these words, hear my cry_

_Spirits from the other side_

_Come to me, I summon thee_

_Cross now the great divide._

            A rush of light filled the room for a moment, and two women appeared before them. 

            "I thought you'd be calling soon," Prue said as she stepped away from the candles, careful not to singe her dress. "So I took the liberty of inviting a friend. Guys, this is Krista." The young redhead moved up next to Prue. "Krista, this is Piper, Phoebe, Paige, and Piper's husband, Leo."

            They each waved in turn, then Piper said, "I hate to burst you bubble Prue, but we need to talk as a family before you go bringing your friends around."

            "But I can help!" Krista squeaked suddenly. "I can help you prepare."

            The sisters glanced at her, noticing how pale and sickly she looked. "Prepare for what?" She had sparked Phoebe's interest.

            "For the Coming. Once every millennia a powerful witch returns to this plane to feed in the souls of newborn witches. And from the looks of things, she'll probably be coming after you." The color began to rise slowly in her cheeks, making her seem younger by the minute.

            Piper gazed nervously at her stomach, then to her sister and finally Leo, who nodded resignedly. "What can we do to stop her?"

            Krista's face fell. "W-well, there isn't anything you can do to stop her, but there are ways of protecting yourself. And your daughter."

            "I'm sure there's a way to-"

            "There is no other way!" Krista shouted, clenching her fists tightly at her sides. She relaxed after a moment of quiet and breathed deeply. "Believe me, I know."

            Phoebe pushed past Piper to stand closer to the strange woman. "_How do you know?"_

            "Because she stole my baby's soul, a thousand years ago. Right after she took mine."

A/N: I know this was very short, but I like to stop chapters in suspenseful places. A little habit I picked up as a kid at camp while telling ghost stories. Hehe. Now you just have to wait 'til I write the fourth part… that could take me a while…


	4. Anything For You

The First Son

Part 4: Anything For You

          "I lived in Wales with my husband during about a thousand years ago. The Dark Ages, I believe you call it. Bertram, my husband, didn't approve of my belief in the craft, so he sent my daughter, Eliza, and I before a magistrate. He declared us unfit as human beings and we were cast out. It was lucky that we weren't tortured first… I can't imagine the horrible things I'd heard of them. But that summer of 1008, the witch returned to her true plane, consuming the souls of most of the village children, whose mothers were solitary witches. She came after Eliza, but I managed to ward her off with a potion I brewed to keep death away. It was only days before she came back again, prepared with a counter-potion, to claim my baby's soul. I threw myself in front of her as she walked right through the door of my cottage, and that was the last thing I remember. So, for the past thousand years, I have been devoting myself to finding a way to destroy the monster." Krista sighed heavily a fat tear rolled down her cheek.

          Piper took her hand warmly, trying to help her regain a bit of strength. "What happened? Did you ever find the vanquish?"

          Krista shook her head. "No, there is no vanquish for this witch. It is much more complicated than that. There must be a ritual, performed on the second new moon of the summer, with a full coven of witches. That's at least twelve. Do you know twelve witches? And even if you did, where would you get the ingredients for the potion? None of them exist anymore."

          "We've been in worse scrapes than this. I'm sure we can handle it." Prue patted Krista on the shoulder, but she shrugged away timidly. 

          "What worse scrape could you have possibly been in, that tops the killing of hundreds of newborns at the hands of a witch? One of their own?" She began to cry quietly, weeping into her hands. "Eliza, Eliza, I'm so sorry."

          The four sister exchanged glances, but none of them could think of a worse situation. Phoebe hugged Krista tightly around the shoulders, and whispered into her ear. "We'll stop her. For you and your daughter, not to mention Piper's baby."

          Leo, who had been waiting patiently by the door, took a few steps into the room. "We have just over two months to find the things we need, when the second new moon rises in mid-August. Until then, I think that Piper ought to stay with one of us at all times, just to be safe." He took Piper's hand and led her into the kitchen, where Rueben occupied himself with a sheet that he had draped over the table. 

          "Leo, I'm so scared. This seems so unreal, like it's all a dream. I just wish it would all go away." Piper buried her face in Leo's chest, creating a small round circle of liquid where her tears had fallen on his shirt.

          "We'll take care of you, Piper. You and Melinda will both be safe, I promise you, even if it means that you have to stay up there," Leo pointed skyward, keeping his eyes locked with his wife's. "With the elders until we figure it out, so be it. Anything for you." He kissed her firmly on the mouth, finalizing his statement with a brief moment of passion that left Piper lightheaded. 

          "I believe you," she whispered. "I just hope that they do, too."

          "Bang! You're dead!" Rueben popped his head out from under the sheet, pointing his gun-shaped hand at his parents. 

          Leo gasped and clutched his chest playfully, pretending to die a slow, painful death. Piper smacked his arm hard. "Don't encourage him. It'll give him nightmares, among other things."

          "Come on, Piper, let him live a little. He's just a kid. You could use a little fun in your life, too. Don't worry about anything, we've got a whole two months to figure out what's happening and solve the problem." Leo squeezed her arm gently then clutched his chest in mock agony.

          "It's hard to live a little when your daughter is tap dancing in your stomach. Feel." She took her husband's hand and placed it where she thought the movement was coming from. His eyes widened as he felt his daughter kick.

          "Wow, she'll make a great soccer player. Remind me to sign her up for the peewee league next summer." Piper slapped him, but did it with a smile. She leaned down and took her son's hand, and put in the same spot where Leo had felt the kicking. "You feel that, honey? That's your baby sister."

          Rueben arched his eyebrows sharply. "Did you swallow her?"

          Leo burst out laughing, drawing the attention of the women in the other room. Phoebe came in first, followed by Prue, Paige, and Krista. They looked at him awkwardly and Piper rolled her eyes. "Don't ask. It's a long story."

          "Speaking of long stories, we found a page in the book about this witchy chick," Paige dropped the heavy object on the table and flipped to the right page. "Lonyu, the soul stealer. Apparently she was once a mortal witch, but when she stole the souls of the other witches in her coven, she was cursed to feed on only souls for the rest of eternity. If she doesn't get the amount she needs during the duration of one new moon every thousand years, she shrivels up and dies a slow, painful death, as all of the souls she's stolen are driven from her body."

          Phoebe grimaced. "Mmm. Pleasant."

          "So, basically, all we have to is keep her from stealing a certain number of souls, right?" Prue glanced down at the page to double check. 

          Leo nodded. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

          "There has to be a catch. It couldn't just be that easy." Piper shook her head. "I can't lose my baby to this monster. We have to find a way to destroy her, once and for all." 

          "Don't worry honey, we will." Phoebe brushed the hair out of Piper's eyes and kissed her forehead. She saw gaze upward, and she sighed. "Are They calling you again?"

          Leo nodded angrily. "Yeah. Damn it. They have horrible timing." He kissed Piper on the cheek and stood back away from the group. "I'll be right back, I promise." She waved at him as he disappeared in a shimmer of light.

          "Ok, well, let's get going, we have a lot of things to do, a lot of research and a lot of planning." Paige clapped her hands together and the girls scattered, each to attend to a separate task. Phoebe and Paige went back to the book, Prue sat down to question Krista further about Lonyu, and Piper went about brewing things together that made the house smell like old socks and dead fish. The others pretended not to notice, holding back their gags and coughs until Leo returned an hour later.

          "Well, it turns out we don't have as much time as we thought we did," he said as he orbed in next to Piper. "Oh, God, what is that smell?"

          "Forget the smell. How much time do we have?" Piper poured her ruined concoction down the drain in the sink.

          Leo scratched the back of his neck and tucked his chin in his chest to muffle the answer. "Uh ee."

          "Excuse me? What was that?" Paige leaned forward a bit on the counter to hear what Leo was saying.

          He cleared his throat and spoke a little louder. "A week…"

          "A WEEK?!"

          Leo's hands shot up to his ears. "Jesus, Paige! Have a little courtesy and let me know before you decide to go shattering glass with that voice again."

          Piper grabbed her husband's arm firmly. "We can't only have a week. Lonyu only comes on the second new moon, and that's not until august! What is going on, Leo? Christ, my back hurts." She began to rub her back again, trying to massage away the sharp prick of discomfort that shot up and down her spine. 

          "I don't know, and if I did, I don't think I'd keep it from you. They just said to start working a little faster, since Lonyu isn't waiting for the moon this time around. Honey, you don't look too good. Are you okay?" Leo took Piper's hand and helped her onto the stool as she rubbed her eyes roughly. 

          "Something's wrong. I… I think… God, no. It's too early." Piper clutched her stomach and let out a piercing scream. "Leo, it's not time! It's too early, what the hell is going on?!" 

          Acting quickly, Leo jumped up and attempted to carry his wife to the living room in order to help her more easily, but her added weight from the baby made it impossible. "Prue, Paige, one of you, move her to the couch!"

          Both of the sisters tried at the same time, and Prue ended up moving blue light particles across the kitchen while half of Piper made it through the foyer and onto the loveseat. The rest of her appeared seconds later and she screamed again, glaring at everyone evilly. 

          Leo landed hard on his knees as he slid into the room. He placed his hands over Piper's abdomen and pressed all his strength into healing whatever was wrong. The light glowed beneath his palms for a moment, then flickered and died. He tried again, raising a bead of sweat on his brow, but to no avail. His wife continued to scream, pausing only to catch her breath. She clenched Leo's hand firmly, digging her french-tipped nails into his skin. He gritted his teeth until her grip relaxed and the howling stopped. 

          "Leo…" her voice was faint as she reached out with her other hand. "I can't lose her…"

          "I know, baby, I know," Leo kissed her cheek and glanced about the room. Phoebe stood at the door with Rueben under one arm. He was shaking.

          "Daddy…"

          Leo shook his head and looked at Phoebe. "Take him out of here, he doesn't need to see this." Phoebe complied and led the frightened boy away. Paige knelt down by Piper and pushed a strand of hair out of her face.

          "She needs a doctor, Leo." 

          He was silent, but nodded half-heartedly. He lifted her shakily off the couch and she wrapped her arms around his neck. The moon was full and bright as he walked out and laid her in the back of the car. He smoothed down her hair and shushed her as she moaned for him to stay with her. "It's alright, baby. Everything will be over soon." 

          But everything was just beginning.

A/N: ooh, I love a good cliffhanger. Sorry that took me so long. What do you think? Yes, no? I think I know where part five is going, but where's a muse when you need her? ::wink, wink:: Feedback please!


	5. State of Mind

The First Son

Part 5: State of Mind

          Leo sat in the hospital waiting room with his elbows on his knees, his hands clasped firmly under his trembling chin. It had been hours, he didn't know exactly how many, since he had skidded to a halt outside San Francisco Memorial with Piper panting weakly in the backseat. She was taken away from him, wheeled down a bright hallway that reminded him of their meeting on the bridge between life and death so many years before. He let his head fall and covered his face from the gazes of sympathetic strangers. He knew what they were thinking. 

          _Poor guy, his kid's gonna die…_

_          Oh, I hope he's all right…_

_          But what was there to be all right about? He could lose two of the most precious things in his life at any moment, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He hadn't felt so helpless in a long time. Long before he'd ever met Piper, before any of this had happened. But none of it mattered, the past, present, or future. _

          All that mattered was Piper and the baby.

          He got up and paced, hoping that his frustration would wear away at his fear and let him just be angry, rather than scared. He hated being scared. There was no worse emotion in his mind, than the fear of losing a loved one. And once you had it, it stuck with you, never ceasing to pound away at your sanity until you were almost ready to knock yourself out just end your own suffering. That's how he felt, trapped in his own mind. 

          "Mr. Wyatt?"

          Leo snapped his head up, heart pulsing in time to the low music from the stereo in the corner. His eyes widened as he saw the red stains up and down the doctors arms, soaking the light blue material with the liquid of life. 

          "Are you Leo Wyatt?" The older gentleman stepped further into the room, allowing more of the light to glisten on the still wet garments he wore.

          "Yeah," Leo whispered. "That's me. Wh… What happened? Is she all right? What about the baby?"

          The man shook his graying head, sighing heavily. Leo's heart fell through the floor, expecting the worst to come from his lips. "It's too soon to say. Your wife is in recovery, but your daughter is in the neo-natal intensive care unit, hooked up to a ventilator. We had to perform an emergency cesarean, and when we finally got her out, she wasn't breathing on her own. I have to say that I'm surprised she's made it this long. We don't have many births in this hospital that are _this premature."_

          Leo scowled at the doctor's insinuation that his daughter would die. "I think I'd like to see my wife now." He pushed past him, smearing blood along his worn leather jacket. Leo ignored it and kept walking, through the halls and up a flight of stairs to the recovery wing. He glanced about, feeling in his mind for Piper, waiting for her to call for him. When she didn't, he sought her out and entered the room he felt her in.

          The room was bright, brighter than any place he had ever been in, brighter than the sun. He shielded his eyes as they become used to the light, and then looked about. Piper was nowhere to be seen, and instead he was surrounded by rows of clear plastic boxes. Blips of little monitors caught him off guard and he jumped, seeing the tiny figures in each little box. He paced the rows, searching for the name he wanted. And then he found it. A pink tag on a box in the middle of the room, reading, "Baby girl, Halliwell-Wyatt". The blanket in the box nearly drowned the small form as her chest rose and fell, dependant on the tube taped into her mouth. Her miniature fingers curled into perfect petite hands, connected to her pink arms, shoulders, and neck, up to her rosy cheeks. He put his hand against the plastic, afraid to open the lid and pick her up, that he might hurt her. All four pounds of her. Leo glanced back at the pink tag and read it again. 

          "Baby girl Halliwell-Wyatt. Four pounds, seven ounces. May third, 2007. Preemie." That word clung to his throat and choked him violently. She came too soon, she was premature. They could've waited, in fact they were happy to wait. This could have been prevented, and he was determined to find out why. He kissed his fingers lightly and pressed them on the plastic before turning to go back out the door. He spun, smacking hard into a young woman dressed in scrubs and a blue hair net. 

          "You can't be in here. This is a sterile environment." She tugged at his sleeve and pulled him towards the door. He jerked away and hurried out, decidedly aggravated with the world. He stormed down the hall to the nurse's station, where they told him the room number where Piper could be found. He reached the room at a sprint, skidding to a halt by her bed. Phoebe and Paige were already there, watching Piper's sleep. She looked so pale, almost as fragile as the baby in the box.

          "How is she?"

          Paige glanced up and sighed. "We don't know, she hasn't woken up since we got here. Where were you?"

          "The NICU. I saw her… Where's Rueben?" Leo asked, keeping his answers short and to the point, in no mood to deal with sisters anymore than he was in the mood to deal with nurses. 

          "At a friend's house. We dropped him off on the way over. He was so scared, Leo. He needs you right now. Do you want us to go get him?" Phoebe put a hand on his shoulder as he pulled a chair up next to the bed. 

          Leo nodded. "Yeah. Do me a favor, will you? Go back to the house and get the little quilted blanket out from under our bed. I have to give it to someone."

          She didn't argue just took up her purse and dragged Paige out of the door, whispering something about being alone.

          "Piper?" Leo stroked her hand leaned in closer to her face. "Piper, I know you can hear me. Just wake up, Piper." Her eyes fluttered and opened. She blinked a few times and looked him in the eye. Tears glistened by her lashes and she sniffled pathetically. 

          "Leo-"

          He put a finger over her lips. "Shh, don't say anything. It won't help. But this might." He held one hand over her head and the other over her stomach, numbing her pain momentarily. "Better?"

          She nodded, but continued to cry with a pain that Leo had no powers to heal. He leaned over and pressed his forehead against hers. "She's beautiful, Piper. Ten fingers, ten toes, and the thickest hair I have ever seen. A little small, but I think that she'll never lack in generosity  what she does in stature." 

          Piper squeezed her eyes shut and buried her face in Leo's hands. "God, I thought she was dead." 

          "No, she's perfect." Leo crawled into the bed with her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. She fit nicely into the curve of his body, quivering slightly though. 

          "I don't know what I'll do if she doesn't make it, Leo. I don't know if I could go on living without her." 

          Leo kissed her head, wiping away a tear with his thumb. "You _will make it, even if she doesn't, Piper. You'll still have me, and Rueben. What would Rueben do without you?"_

          Piper shuddered and sunk further into Leo's body, going completely limp in his arms. She felt safe with him, almost able to forget the horrible pain that ripped through her body. And her heart.

          "Ms. Halliwell are you awake?" A candy striper poked her head in the door and then pulled back quickly as she saw Leo draped across the bed. "Sorry!"

          Leo smiled slightly and pulled the scratchy blanket up over his and Piper's shoulders, insulating the warmth from their bodies. He kissed the top of her head closed his eyes, hoping that he could dream away all his problems.

***

          "Mommy!"

          Piper woke with a start as Rueben leaped onto the hospital bed and landed on her sore stomach. She grunted and doubled over in pain, tears welling up in her eyes. Leo reached over, pulled the boy away, and plopped him into a chair. He held a hand over Piper and she relaxed, her pain diminished back to its original ache.

          "Rueben, you have to be careful around Mommy. She had a rough night." Leo let his son back out of the chair, and he approached his mother more cautiously.

          "Where's the baby, Mommy? Is she going to be alright?" 

          Piper sat up in the bed and pulled Rueben up next to her. "I don't know, sweetie. She was born too soon, and she's really small, which means her lungs aren't big enough to let her breathe on her own. A machine is doing it for her. We-" she couldn't finish, as she was taken over by a wave of tears. Rueben gasped and crawled off the bed, afraid that he had upset his mother.

          Leo took his hand and led him over to his aunts, who in turn took him out of the room. Leo went back to Piper, who broke down as he sat next to her. 

          "She can't die, Leo. Why can't you help her?" The muffled words shook him deeply, as though Piper was blaming Leo for the situation of things. He let a tremor pass through his body before dismissing the comment.

          "I don't know, but I promise, I'll find out. You just get yourself into a positive state of mind, and I'll be back." He stood back and disappeared in a shimmer of blue lights. 

          Piper gripped the blanket next to her tightly, using it as her only support as she sat alone in the room. _State of mind my ass. She lay back against her pillow, curling up as close as she could without ripping the stitches in her stomach, and closed her eyes. Her hopes for a dreamless slumber were trounced as a frantic voice came over the hospital's intercom. _

          "Code Red in maternity! I repeat, Code Red in maternity! Security, block all exits immediately! Code Red!" 

          Piper furrowed her brows anxiously, unsure of what the woman on the intercom had meant. _Code Red? __That cannot be good. The door burst open as an armed guard stepped into the room, followed closely by an out of breath doctor._

          "Ms. Halliwell…"

          "Code Red!" The damned PA system. 

          "I don't really know how to tell you this, but… your daughter has…um… well, she was kidnapped."

A/N: Ack! Another cliffie! I can't get over these things. They just keep popping up! Sorry it took so long to finish. I only write when I'm depressed, and this holiday has been especially depressing. It's a long story. I could write a book. ::light bulb pops up over head:: Hey! Great idea!


	6. The Chosen Son

The First Son

Part 6: The Chosen Son 

  
  


Piper's breathe caught in her throat and she choked on the air, her face reddening and a bead of sweat moistening her upper lip. "I-I…no…" she whispered into her hands, unsure of her reaction had she let them down from her face. "Leo…"

"I assure you, we'll have the person who did this within the hour. We're taking all the proper precautions, and the police have been notified, but-" the doctor hurried his words, trying to calm the now hysterical woman.

"Damn your precautions!" Piper cried. "You have no idea who you're dealing with! Leo! Leo, I need you!"

He emerged from the bathroom to her left a second later, closing the door behind him as he tried to cover a flash of blue light that trailed behind him. His eyes were hard, but clear and calm. "Don't worry, Piper. I'll find her." He went to leave, but the burly guard who had broken down her door earlier stepped in front of him.

"That won't be necessary, sir. It would be better for you and your wife if you just stayed here until we know something. Now, if you'll just sit dow-" the doctor was cut off abruptly as Leo pushed past him into the hallway.

"Damned if I'll just sit here. Like she said, you have no idea who you're dealing with." He stormed down the hall and turned into the stairwell, where he leaped the steps two at a time to get to the second level and the cafeteria, leaving the guard and the doctor to deal with their own security. He knew the kidnapper wouldn't be hiding in the hospital. She was long gone, waiting or the time when she could take his daughter's soul.

  
  


***

  
  


Leo burst through the cafeteria doors, panting loudly. Phoebe, Paige, and Rueben sat in a corner sipping hot cocoa. They looked up as he came in, their eyes widening in fright as he charged over to them. 

"She's gotten to her."

Phoebe stood up too quickly, and knocked over her chair. "Already?" she hissed. "You said we had a week!"

Paige picked up Rueben, his five-year-old body weighing heavily on her small frame. He was shaking violently, clutching at Paige's hair while she whispered soothingly into his ear.

"We have a week before she can actually begin taking the souls, but Lonyu's like an animal, storing away provisions for winter." Leo took his son away from Paige, setting him on the ground. She sighed in relief. 

"Enough squirrel analogies. How do we get her back?"

Leo stiffened. "I don't know, Pheebs. The elders weren't exactly spouting with information. They said that They may have a source, but They weren't sure. I have to go back up, but first I need that blanket."

Phoebe reached into her purse and pulled out the tiny flannel scrap that Leo had made when Piper told him that she was pregnant again. He had hand sewn it from one of his old shirts, using the pocket as a baby bottle holder. He gripped it firmly and looked about before orbing away, off to see the elders. 

"Come on, sweetie. Let's go see your Mommy." Paige took his hand and led them briskly out the door.

  
  


***

  
  


Piper rocked back and forth on the bed, the same guard that had come in before watching her from the door. She ached all over, not just her body, but her mind and her heart as well. That monster has my baby, that monster has my baby… thoughts steamed through her head like a car without breaks, speeding along with no way to stop. I don't want to be here, I want to be with my baby, my Melinda. She had no tears left in her, and because of it she felt dry, nearly empty of feeling. Leo had left her so quickly that she hadn't the time to call after him, to make him stay with her. Now she was alone with this stranger who wouldn't stop looking at her. 

"I don't need you here," she whispered into her hands. "Go away."

The guard frowned. "Hospital policy," he grunted. 

"I don't care about your goddamed policy!" she shrieked. "Just find my daughter! Go! Find her!" 

"Piper, stop yelling, it's okay!" Phoebe appeared at her side, stroking her hair as she collapsed into her arms. The guard, shaken by her outburst, crept away down the hall. 

"What's happening, Pheebs? Where's Leo?" Piper lay limply in her sister's lap, her eyes closed halfway as though she were drunk. She certainly felt drunk. Was it possible that she could imagine all this? She prayed it was.

"He went off to talk to the elders. Something about a source they had. Very cryptic… don't worry, honey. Leo won't let her die. We'll find that damned vanquish if it kills us." Paige sat in the chair on her other side with Rueben in her lap. He reached out and took his mother's hand, gripping it tightly. She squeezed back and smiled at him grimly. 

"At least I have you, baby," she said to him. "At least I have you."

Rueben shrugged and crawled up next to Piper. She wrapped her arm around him and buried her face in his hair. She sniffed a few times and kissed the top of his head before loosening her hold on him. "I have to talk to Leo."

  
  


***

  
  


The area was covered by a light fog, clouding Leo's vision slightly as he walked, his head down, through a mass of gathered bodies. Everyone was wearing long, flowing white robes, their hands hidden by the sleeves and their faces masked under hoods. Leo felt out of place in his Levi's and flannel shirt, but it didn't bother him at the moment. He made his way to the front of the crowd, and stopped at the bottom of a flight of steep steps that led up to the temple where the elders were meeting. He waited until one came out to see him before proceeding upwards, into the shadows of the marble pillars and columns. 

"What have you found out?" He asked quietly, careful not to raise his voice to the powerful elders. "Is there something we can do to stop her?"

A man in a dark red robe farthest to the right of him stepped into the light. "There is nothing you can do. But your son is another matter."

Leo blinked. "Rueben?"

Another came into view. "Yes, the boy." He paused. "There was written a prophecy, of a child with a power greater than any of his forefathers. A power no one but he can control. The Chosen Son, he is called. And that child is your son."

"But-but you told me… when he was born… he was tested!" Leo spit the words out, his mind as clouded as the floor beneath his feet. "He's only five! He doesn't know how to handle this! You can't just thrust this on a five-year-old!"

The elders encircled him, speaking one at a time. "We didn't do this…"

"It is his destiny…"

"He was chosen thousands of years ago…"

"When time first began…"

"To be the savior to many."

Leo swallowed heavily as they closed in on him, tightening their circle as though they wanted to kill him rather than help him. The voices around him stopped and he looked up. They each were staring at him, their eyes a solid while color that sent shivers down his spine. "I… I understand. Just tell me how I can help my son."

The men backed away slowly, rearranging themselves into their straight line. The tallest of the group stayed back at his side. "The witch has a weakness, a single flaw that gives your son the advantage. It is what banished her into solitude for a thousand years, and it is what you must use to destroy her."

Leo nodded bleakly. "Tell me."

  
  


***

  
  


Phoebe paced her sister's hospital room, fearing that she would soon wear a trench into the floor. "Where is he? It's been almost an hour."

Piper glanced up at her, her face pale and sick with grief. She blinked at her a moment, then looked back to her son, who lay asleep against her shoulder. "I don't know," she muttered. "But we're running out of time."

As if on cue, a flicker of blue light appeared on the floor from under the bathroom door. Leo stepped out, kicking off the trail of toilet paper that clung to his shoe. "Damn it!"

Paige grabbed him as he stumbled, helping back upright. He smiled his thanks to her quickly, before returning his gaze to his wife. "I know how we can get her back."

  
  
  
  


A/N: These things are really tough to get rid of, you know? Cliffhangers just seem to follow me around. It's rather annoying, but not as much as it must annoy you! Haha. Well, I pretty much have the rest of the fic mapped out, so I should be putting out chapters left and right, but until I have time, I don't know when I'll put them up. Finals are next week and I'm getting worried about my grades. I spend too much time online and not enough time studying. Oh well, this is more fun anyway. Love ya!

  
  


*Dimples*


	7. The Witch Revealed

The First Son

Part 7: The Witch Revealed

"This is insane!" Piper hissed. "He's _five! There has to be another way."_

Leo paced the floor, shaking his head. "No, this is it. We have to figure out how to get his powers working, whatever they may be. It's the only way to get our daughter back."

"By putting our son in danger as well? Are you crazy? Leo, I want her back just as much as you do, but I can't put my five-year-old in front of a witch with thousands of years of experience and expect him to make it out alive." Piper covered Rueben's ears gently so he couldn't hear the conversation about his almost certain demise.

"Piper's right, Leo. Even if he is going to fulfill some prophecy, he can't do it without practice. Without training." Phoebe spoke firmly, yet without the harsh tone her sister had been using. 

Leo scowled at her. "Can I please just have an argument with my wife without being outnumbered three to one? Is that so much to ask?"

Paige stuck her chin out defiantly. "When it comes to the safety of our nephew, yes, it is to much to ask."

"Do you think I like this any more than you do?" Leo threw his hands in the air, heaving his frustration at the ceiling. "He's my _son, for Chrissake! But it's __the only way! I just have more confidence in him than you do. You think of him as a baby, but think about it Piper, he's growing up faster than we can raise him, and soon he won't need us anymore. But Melinda will, if we can get her back. Rueben is the only one who can do it, whether you want to believe it or not. He'll have help, from us, and a few others, so I swear he won't get hurt, but we have to at least try. Please, Piper. For our daughter, let's try."_

Piper looked down at Rueben, who leaned against her, straining to hear what was going on. She lifted her hands from his ears and kissed the top of his head. "Fine. You tell him what he has to do."

***

"Do I have to?"

Leo held his son in his lap, trying to reason with the stubborn child. "Yes, Rueben, if you want to help us get your sister back, then I'd really like you to do this. But it'll take a lot of effort from you, and a lot of your energy. Are you going to help us?"

Rueben grabbed his chin and thought, sitting with one elbow on his knee. "Hmm…" he trailed off and Leo could feel his own muscles tighten. He waited for Rueben to answer. "Sure, as long as you promise to get me the new Lego set I wanted. You promise?"

Leo laughed and hugged his son tightly. "Sure, Cap. You got it. As soon as we get Mel back. But first, we need to figure out how to get this power of yours working."

Rueben jumped down off his father's lap and stood in the middle of the floor so that all were watching him. He lifted his right hand slowly, and at the same time, the chair Leo was sitting in rose off the ground. Leo gasped in unison with the three women, and slid off on the ground.

"How long have you known how to do that? And why didn't you tell us? What did I tell you about secrets?" Leo knelt down to look Rueben in the eye. His son seemed distant, almost as though he weren't in the room anymore. His eyes were cloudy, almost gray. Leo shook his arm gently and the color returned to his face. The chair dropped loudly, clattering on the linoleum floor. 

"Huh?"

"Where did you learn how to do that?" Piper cut in, staring at him in confusion.

"Learn to do what?" Rueben scrunched up his face and plopped down on the bed, even more confused than his mother was. 

"That thing with the chair! You lifted it off the ground without touching it!" Leo began pacing again, worried that something might not go as planned.

"I did? Really? I always wanted to do that. That's how Aunt Prue moved things around. Did I really move it with my mind?" Rueben was getting excited, his small voice raising higher and higher. 

Leo picked him up around the waist and hoisted him over his shoulder. "We'll see." He and his son disappeared in a flash of light.

***

The air was thick and heavy surrounding the cabin that lay nestled far back in the hills of an uncharted land. Insects chirped softly in the distance, and closer to the log shack a wolf howled in mourning. The light from the only window bounced off the water vapors in the mist and spread a glow around the house that was anything but heavenly.

There was no noise from inside, just the hushed breathing of the ancient witch, her cloak wrapped tightly around her skin-and-bone arms. Despite the bitter cold, she smiled sweetly at the cradle by her side, which rocked back and forth in an unfelt breeze. The child inside remained motionless, frozen in a state of suspended animation until her time was right. She would be the first. The first in over a thousand years for the cursed woman, who had not felt the warmth of the sun since before… since before her banishment. Those women, those jealous women and their herbs. How little had they known to entrap her like this. But the time was drawing nearer, faster than anyone had expected. See, that was the joy of a thousand years of nothingness. One always had the time to think. To plan. And so she had, planned and practiced, until the day when she could have her revenge…

***

Rueben paced the length of his bedroom, tapping his five-year-old chin in deep thought. Leo watched intently from the doorway while Prue hovered overhead. 

"Are you sure she can't help us anymore?" Leo whispered to the translucent woman above his head. "You're sure she doesn't know anything else?"

  


Prue shook her head sadly. "No. Krista told me that she couldn't help you anymore than she already had, and that her coming along would just be a burden, so she stayed behind." She looked up as Rueben flicked his wrist at a chair, desperate to make it move even the slightest bit. He frowned as the chair remained in it's original spot. He sat down on his bed and pressed his eyes together tightly. 

"I just wish that there was some way we could help him. Look, he's all worn out. We'll never get Melinda back at this rate." Leo wiped his hand over his face to wipe away his own weariness and yawned. "Hey, would you mind watching him while I take a nap? I haven't slept in a bout two days."

Prue smiled at him and nodded. "I'd love to."

Leo grinned back. "I love having a free baby-sitter around. Makes things so much easier." He turned and headed down the hall to the bedroom he and Piper shared, leaving Rueben alone with his aunt. 

"Why can't I do this, Aunt Prue? Why is it so hard?" The boy kicked out at the air, venting his frustration on nothing. 

"It's all in your head, sweetie. You can do anything if you want it bad enough." Prue settled on the bed next to him and became whole again so she could wrap her arm around his shoulder. "You know, I used think the same way. 'Why did they give me this gift?' 'Why is it so hard?' But you know what?"

Rueben glanced up at her. "What?"

"I loved every second of being a witch while I was alive. Sure, there were some problems, but it made me feel like I was specialer than anyone on the block." Prue winked at him and pushed him to his feet. He turned to her and rolled his eyes impertinently.

"It's 'more special', Aunt Prue. Not 'specialer'."

Prue smirked at him, tweaking his nose gently. "You're pretty smart for a five-year-old. I think you'll get a handle on this in no time."

Rueben beamed proudly and walked to the center of the room. He pressed his eyes shut again as he raised his hand slowly upward. The chair that had stayed so very still before began to rise off the ground, hovering in mid air before it dropped with a thud. He snapped his eyes open and gaped at the topple piece of furniture. "Did I really do it?"

"Yeah, honey. You did."

***

A searing pain ripped through the old woman's body, sending a wave of tremors through her decaying bones. She screamed, dropping to her knees in agony. The torture subsided, leaving her immobile on the floor. She heaved violently and gasped as the child stirred from her slumber. She waved a hand quickly past the bassinet and mumbled a few words before dragging herself to her feet. She reached into her bag on the bed and pulled out a vial of thick black liquid. Uncorking the bottle she stared at it for a moment before swallowing the contents. Her voice became low and even as she chanted. 

_The Son grow stronger each passing day, _

_Send him this sign to lead him astray._

_Far of body, close of mind, _

_His sister now he will not find._

_  
_

She wailed in discomfort as her features contorted, and her gnarled hands gripped the table firmly. The veins in her hands disappeared, and her cracking skin became smooth and youthful once again. She leaned her head forward and watched as her dry, white hair became thick and full again, bright with vibrant colors. She shook out her head once and glanced into the mirror on the wall. She remembered how the women had envied her for her locks. Red hair was a very fashionable thing to have in England…

A/N: Ack! This is what happens when finals are next week and you're up until unGodly hours of the night due to stress and anxiety! Actually, I do all my best work at night, especially late night. I guess I didn't need a new episode after all. I can still leave you in suspense. Did you get my subtle hint at the end? If not, go back and read part 3: the Coming. Well, I got over my writers block quicker than I ever thought I could. Now I can finish my songfic and it's on to part 8! Wish me luck… I may need it… 

O_o --- That's Me

*muah*

Dimples


	8. The Premonition

The First Son

Part 8: The Premonition

            "Dad, I can do it! Dad, look!"

            Leo shrugged off his blanket and sat up in bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He watched as his son came into the room, juggling three unlit candles with his mind. He gaped as he circled them around the room, performing magnificent loop-de-loops and barrel rolls. 

            "How did you…?" Leo stammered.

            "And look, look what else I can do!" He halted the candles in front of Leo's face, leaving them hovering in mid air. He shaped his hand like a gun and closed one as if to aim. He pulled his finger back quickly to shoot, and the first candle's wick exploded into a flame. One by one he set them afire, then blew on the tip of his finger. "Isn't it great?" 

            His father snuffed the candles out before they singed his eyebrows. "I…well, it was fast. Now what else can you do?"

            Rueben dazzled his father as he disappeared in front of his eyes, becoming invisible almost as quickly as a demon could blink away. Leo jumped as he felt a poke in his back. Turning around, he noticed three small balls of fire bobbing precariously in the air. A whisper of a giggle escaped Rueben's nonexistent lips as he threw the flames at his door. The mahogany surface exploded with a bang, sending Leo and Rueben flying backwards. 

            Leo opened his eyes and winced as he got up off the smashed desk chair. Rueben, now visible after he had lost his concentration, stirred from his landing place on a pile of dirty clothes. 

            "Unh…" he grunted as his dad lifted him to his feet, wiping away the ashes from his face. 

            "You pack quite a punch fir a little guy," Leo said. He dusted off his own clothes and glanced at the door. The large hole in the center smoldered slightly, a small could of smoke rising from the cinders. "This might just work after all."

            "Well, I'd hope so. He was up all night working just for you." Prue's head appeared through the hole in the door. She wrinkled her nose and blew out the last remaining flicker of fire. She passed through the blocked entrance as though there was nothing in her way. She ruffled Rueben's hair and looked up at Leo. "So what do you think? Is he ready?"

            Leo scratched his chin. "He's certainly getting there."

            Prue smiled. "Great! Now we just need to find the vanquish and we're all set."

            "Wait," Leo grabbed her arm as she turned to leave. "What vanquish? They never said anything about a vanquish."

            Her smile vanished. "But Krista… she said we needed a vanquish, a whole coven of witches, the ingredients… Something isn't right."

            Leo's eyes widened and he pushed past her. He forced opened the ruined door and yelled as he ran up the attic steps. "The book!"

***

            Piper paced the length of her bedroom slowly, gingerly. The doctor said that it was best to get up and walk after childbirth. She grunted in frustration as she gripped the walls for support. Phoebe and Paige watched her and grimaced, each contemplating the enormous amounts of pain that their sister had gone through. They hadn't heard a word escape Piper's lips since Leo had left the previous night with Rueben. He hadn't called or even orbed in to let them know what was going on, so the tension between the three of them had grown exponentially overnight.

            "Piper, maybe you should sit down now, honey," Paige suggested timidly from her seat. Piper glared back at her and Paige lowered her head. "Or not."

            The aggravated woman kicked the drywall viciously, causing a dent in the wall and a cut on her foot. She cursed under her breath and sat down on the bed to check the damage. Phoebe got up and went to her, attempting to calm her down. 

            "Sweetie, what did that wall ever do to you?" Phoebe smiled cautiously at Piper, but it wasn't returned as genuinely. Phoebe dabbed at the blood that formed a pea-sized bubble around her sister's toe with a tissue, biting her lip to keep from shouting obscenities at Piper. "Um, do you think we should call Leo now? Maybe he could heal this and then bring us up to date on the search." 

            Piper became still, thinking. She relaxed after moment and nodded. "Fine."

            Phoebe, encouraged by the single syllable answer, kissed her sister on the cheek and began calling Leo's name loudly… but not too loudly. 

            "Don't worry about it, Piper," Paige said. "He'll have this all figured out when he gets here."

***

            Leo flipped through the pages frantically, unsure of what he was searching for. He stopped at the Lonyu page, and stared at her picture silently. Prue paced two feet above the ground, her skirt dragging on the wood floor. She bit her lip anxiously as Leo paused at the page. "What is it? Did you find something?"

            Leo squinted at the picture in the Book of Shadows a minute longer before motioning for Prue to come over. "Look at this, here." He pointed to the eyes of the witch, deep gray and bottomless with pure hatred. Her white hair was streaked with single strands of red, and her frail features seemed to come alive with a prowess that shook Leo's tenacity away from him. "Do you recognize the eyes? And here, the streaks in her hair. Who do they remind you of?"

            Prue hung her head in shame. "Krista." 

            "Yeah, Krista. That bitch." He slammed the book closed and stormed down the stairs, calling over his shoulder. "You're going to tell me everything you know about her. When you met her, how you met her, what she did when she wasn't with you. And you're going to tell me fast. We don't have much time."

            Prue floated down after him, cursing her own stupidity. She should have known, she should have recognized the small things, the signs. It just wasn't right. She had brought this monster into her family's lives, and now she had to help them get rid of her. She followed Leo into Rueben's room, where they found him zipping objects around at high speeds. Leo caught a baseball glove in the air before it hit him in the head, and threw it to the ground. 

            "Come on, Cap. We've got to get back to Mom. There's a few things that we need to tell her." He grabbed his son around the waist and carried him as though he weighed nothing at all. He glanced over at Prue and thought for a second. "Is there any way that you could com e with us?"

            Prue shook her head. "Not really… I'm sorry."

            "Don't be," Leo replied. "You couldn't have known." He turned orbed away, leaving Prue alone to worry.

***

            "Ahh! Get out! Get out!"

            Leo slammed the bathroom door shut behind him to drown out Phoebe's screams. He had, unfortunately, orbed in a haste, forgetting to check where he was going first. He and Rueben had appeared in the bathroom at the same time that Phoebe happened to be occupying the toilet. 

            "Sorry! Sorry, I didn't think anyone would be in there!" Leo set Rueben down on the bed next to Piper, who seemed absolutely livid. 

            "Of course you didn't? Why on earth would think that there would ever be anyone in a public bathroom?!"  Phoebe cried out from the bathroom. The room was quiet for a few moments until she flushed, then ran the water from the tap and came out, drying her hands on a paper towel. "Now, what do you think you are doing, orbing into a room without checking it first?"

            "I thought it would be best, since Rueben is completely destroying the house with his newly harnessed powers, and now that we know who Lonyu really is." 

            Piper glanced up, momentarily forgetting her anger, replacing it with confusion and curiosity. "What do you mean, 'really is'? She's a witch who had my baby, simple as that."

            Leo shook his head. "No, it's not as simple as that. Lonyu is really Krista, that woman Prue brought home to 'help' us prepare. All that time she was leading us on a wild goose chase. At least we have a little help from the Elders so we can figure all this mess out."

            "So Prue brought a baby-killer into our house?" Paige stood up and narrowed her eyes suspiciously. 

            "No, that's not it at all," Leo answered. "She didn't know who she was until the same time I did. We all just took her to be the helpless victim in all of this. None of us could have known, it's no one's fault."

            Phoebe sat down next to her sister, pushing Rueben off the bed. Irritated, he lifted her up, holding her in the air just below the ceiling.

            "Rueben, no!" Leo reached for Phoebe's arm and attempted to pull her down, but Rueben's hold was too strong for him. "Put her down now!"

            He dropped her on the bed, causing her to land nearly on top of Piper. His mother glared at him, but smiled when she realized how much he had progressed over night. "Save that for the witch, okay?" He nodded in reply and jumped back on the bed. 

Phoebe rubbed her knuckles on top of his head, laughing. "Only you could get away with that, Squirt." 

Leo brushed a bead of sweat off his brow and got back to business. "Alright, I'm going back to talk to Prue, and when I come back, maybe he'll have a little more than sparks to show us." He turned to go, but Rueben grabbed his sleeve and pulled him back.

"Wait, what's that?" he yanked the makeshift baby blanket from his father's pocket, feeling the soft flannel under his fingers. Before the delicate texture could register in his mind, a wave of visions overcame him, so fast and in such great detail that it sent him flying backwards, off the bed and onto the floor. He lay motionless for a moment, breathing heavily. Paige, who was the closest, ran to him and helped him sit upright before she asked him if he was okay. 

"I'm okay… I think." He  rubbed the back of his head gingerly and stood up, aided by his aunt and his father. Piper took his hand from Paige and let him sit down next to her. Phoebe cleared a spot for him, moving herself to sit in a chair by the wall. 

"What did you see, Rueben? I know you saw something." Phoebe prodded at him, hoping that he had seen something in his first premonition that she had not. 

He furrowed his thin brows and scrunched up his nose. "I don't know, exactly. It was so much and so fast… I know there was a cabin, in the woods, somewhere far away from San Francisco. I saw a woman, an old woman. She had a baby in her arms, and she was about to throw her in a fire pit, with this big fire burning around it. I heard the baby cry… I remember now. She cried and the woman laughed. Dad, I saw her. I saw my sister with that witch!"

A/N: Oh, God. Here we go again. Seriously, I hate these cliffhanger things myself, cuz now I have to make the next part even better than this one. Grrr… I even got an email from one of you telling me not to make it a sad and depressing ending (like I could ever write one of those) and to let Piper and Leo have their healthy, breathing baby girl (she put emphasis on baby girl and breathing. I don't  know why). Well, whoever wrote me, don't worry, I know exactly how this thing is going to end. I'm not giving anything away!

*Dimples*


	9. Reliving the Past

The First Son

Part 9: Reliving the Past

Piper burst into tears, throwing her arms into the air. "My God, she's dead! I'll never see my baby again!" 

Leo rushed over to her, wrapping a strong arm around her shoulders. He whispered in her ear, trying to calm her hysterics. "He didn't say that, he never said she was dead, sweetie. Calm down. Please, calm down." He glanced over at Rueben, who nodded furiously. 

"Yeah, she was alive, I heard her crying, remember? She was crying so loudly." He plopped down into the chair where his father had been sitting. "Don't worry, Mom. We'll get her back. I swear."

His mother sniffled a bit, then wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "Don't swear. I hate profanity. Just promise."

Rueben grinned. "Okay. I promise."

"Great, now that we've got all that settled, I have to get back to Prue." Leo stood up and kissed Piper gently on the lips. "Hope you don't mind." Piper shook her head and he orbed away.

"I just pray that he gets back here soon."

***

The hours were drawing shorter, and each moment that passed choked the witch with the firm grip of death. The moon would soon be new, and then her feast would be waiting. She rocked the cradle with her foot, anticipating her first taste, the first soul in a thousand years. She imagined the warmth that would settle over her, and the refreshing light that would bring back her youth. A youth that was not simulated with a spell and some fancy herbs. She paced the floor, her bright red hair flashing in the glow of the firelight. All fake, her entire image, an imitation of what she used to be. She used to be beautiful. All the men had loved her, all had wanted nothing more than to fawn over her and bring her gifts of the finest nature. But none of them had caught her fancy… none but Leonard. Even after her father had given her away in marriage to Bertram, she had fantasized about him in her bed, about bearing his children. Nothing could have gotten in her way. 

Except true love.

Leonard had married her rival, the only other woman in her village with beauty that rivaled her own, which meant he had no need for her. Even after he got his wench of a wife pregnant, he refused to come to her bed. So she gave him a little push, with a spell to call a lover. And, of course, like all spells, there were consequences. Bertram caught them making love in his bed, and cast her out, with the child she had conceived by Leonard tucked safely in her belly. She fled to the woods, to the cottage that her mother had been raised in, and sought solace in it's empty walls. She walked to the village each day for three months, hoping to catch a glimpse of her child's father. There was nary a word of him until the day she saw him swinging from the gallows. She wept, condemning the men who had hanged her lover, and began to plot her revenge. With rare herbs and a parchment of her own spells, the witch prepared for the day when she could take from them what they had taken from her. 

A soul.

***

"So what's the plan?" Paige poked her head in between the front seats of the car. "We got Piper out of the hospital for what?"

Phoebe glared at her in the rearview mirror. "We need to find out what Prue knows just as much as Leo, and it'll be a lot more practical for everyone to be in one place rather than having Leo orb back and forth from the hospital."

"Exactly," Piper put in. "And I don't think that I could put up with that hospital food for much longer. Seriously, I could turn that place around in one night."

"Was that a joke? Did my depressed sister just make a joke?" Phoebe glanced at Piper and smiled, glad that she was seeing her sister looking something other than despondent. 

"Oh yeah, I'm here all week."

"Two! That's two!" Paige kissed Piper on the cheek and settled back into her seat as they pulled into the driveway of the Manor. She unfastened Rueben's safety belt and jumped out of the Jeep to help Piper up the stairs. Rueben crashed past them and bounded into the house. Just as the door slammed behind him, the attic windows shattered above them, showering them in a wave of glass and ash.

***

Her child was born in the dead of winter. She had done it herself, without the aid of a midwife, and without the added warmth of a fire. The child turned blue before the night was over, and she died before the morning came. The witch shivered at the memory of her stiff daughter in her arms, blaming the townspeople for her misfortune. With the death of the baby, she found the last straw that led her into the square the next morning. Still weak from childbirth, she staggered as she climbed the stairs of the chapel, and placed her sacrifice on the altar in front of the magistrate. He gasped in horror as she unwrapped the blanket, revealing her lifeless child. Slowly, she began chanting, the practiced words slipping effortlessly from her tongue. She set the blanket afire, allowing the stench of burning flesh to enter her nostrils and intoxicate her mind. The magistrate took to one knee and crossed himself, praying to the blessed virgin that he would be spared from the demon magic. He coughed and gagged as the smoke choked him, and fainted away on the floor. The witch ignored her interruption and continued chanting, dragging grim shadows of gray into her outstretched hand. The souls gathered and formed one spirit, which she clenched in her fist for a moment, feeling the power flow through her, before swallowing the mass whole.

***

"Christ, Prue! Look what you did to the attic!" Leo wiped soot from his eyes as he shouted at his dead sister-in-law. "It'll take weeks to fix this!"

Prue heaved at her ruined dress and turned to Leo. "I was just trying to help! I'm sorry, but it _has_ been five years since I've cast a spell!"

"What the hell happened here?!" Piper burst through the attic door with her sisters dragging behind. "Why are you trying to destroy my house?"

Leo caught her as she collapsed from exertion into his arms. He glared evilly at Phoebe and Paige, who tried hard to seem as innocent as possible. "She didn't try to destroy the house, she was just trying to cast a summoning spell. Obviously the only witches she could conjure were you three. And why are you here anyway? Piper needs to stay in the hospital, she's still weak from the surgery."

"Hey, she was the one who checked herself out. I just drove her home. Don't go blaming me for your wife's stubborn streak." Phoebe crossed her arms over her chest in defiance and brush glass shards off the chair where she had intended to sit. "Jesus, Prue. What did you do?"

Her sister huffed and slammed the book shut. "I was just trying to be able to tell you where Krista was hiding, since I'm the one who brought her here in the first place. It's my fault that Mel's gone, so now I have to try and bring her back."

Piper frowned at her and shook her head. "It's not your fault, honey. Don't blame yourself."

"How can I not? Your baby is gone, all because that stupid little…" she trailed off, muttering obscenities to herself rather than let Rueben here her fowl language. "I just want to help."

Leo took the opportunity to butt in, stepping into the circle of sisters to get their attention. "If you really want to help, here's what you have to do…"

***

She could still feel the children's souls moving about inside her, struggling ferociously to break free. They had come to her so easily, but after a millennia in the dark recesses of her body, they began to get rowdy. Each one took its turn bashing against her heart, causing tremendous seizures to rip through her limbs, and a chill to settle over her. She still felt the power looming within her, as though she had captured their souls just yesterday. She closed her eyes and groped in the farthest corners of her mind to remember every detail of that day. 

She was in the chapel, breathing in the stench of her child's charred flesh. Her daughter's name would have been Eliza, had she lived through the night. Her name would have been Eliza, if those people hadn't tossed her out into the cold like a rabid animal. She heard crying, a sea of moaning as the mothers carried their children through the streets to the church for a blessing. The door opened for them, and a gust of wind pushed them with the bodies into the front hall. The witch continued to chant, still calling for the final soul of the final child in all of Wales. 

The soul of her lover's legitimate child.

She pulled at her strings of life, yanking with all her might, but her mother gripped them too strongly, and her bond with the child was broken. She screamed her anguished cry as the mothers closed in on her, bearing the bodies of their children like the rag dolls of a toddler. As if possessed, they began reciting an ancient curse. It jerked her backward, towards the flaming altar. 

__

"No! I won't go without it! No! Piper, you'll never be rid of me!" she shrieked, calling out to her lover's wife in agony as the curse wrenched her into the blaze. She clenched her fist one last time as she was dragged by some ungodly force, down into a pit from which there was no escape. There she sat, for a thousand years, waiting for her moment of retribution.

***

"Are you sure this is going to work? I mean, her daughter was only a baby when she was killed. We can't just go around summoning the spirits of babies, can we?" Paige paced the length of the attic while Phoebe chewed on her pen cap thoughtfully. Piper sat in Leo's lap in the chair in the corner and Prue floated precariously above them all. 

"Well, Eliza is our only link to Krista. Without her, we don't have any hope of finding out how to vanquish her. She only has one weakness." Leo massaged Piper's shoulders gently as she leaned back against him. "And besides, just because the body doesn't grow, that doesn't mean a spirit can't. After you die, you can become whatever you want to be. Most babies choose to be older, young adults even."

Piper looked up at him and squinted. "Babies _choose?_ It's a baby, how can it choose?"

"Despite how they act, Piper, babies have structured thought processes too. They think and desire and dislike just as much as we do, if not more. They're just not capable of showing it outright." Her husband kissed her forehead and resumed her massage. She smiled and settled back into his body. 

"Smart aleck."

Phoebe stood up, waving her finished product in the air. "Alright, I've got it! Let's get this over with, before I change my mind again!" She knocked over a few chairs so their chanting space was larger. Leo helped Piper to her feet, and the four sisters read aloud from the crumpled sheet of paper. 

__

"Bring us forth a soul so pure

To enlighten and endure

Her mother's errors we must undo

Her mind will give us our only clue."

A shimmer of lights appeared in the candles that they had set up earlier, forming the body of a twelve year old girl. She was thin, almost too thin, and lanky. Her face was the perfect image of Krista's, except the piercing blue eyes that reminded Piper of someone.

"Father!" The girl flung herself at Leo, wrapping her arms around his waist and squeezing tightly. The breath was forced from his lungs and he struggled to remove her vice-like grip from his body. "Oh, Father! They told me so much about you! I've always wanted to meet you, and now… oh, I'm so happy!" Her smiled faded as she looked up at Leo. "You're not my father, are you?"

Leo shook his head. "No, I'm sorry."

She shook her red hair out. "It's just as well. I don't know what I would have said after 'I'm so happy' anyway. I was a bastard, after all… so, um, who are you?"

Piper, who felt sorry for the girl, bent down to talk to her face to face. "I'm Piper, and these are my sisters, Phoebe, Paige, and Prue. Leo is my husband. It just so happens that your mommy has kidnapped our daughter, and we thought that maybe you could help us out."

Eliza grunted. "It's not necessary to talk to me like a child. I'm a lot older than you are."

"Oh. Sorry." Piper blushed and stepped back a bit, somewhat embarrassed.

"Don't worry about it. It's a common thing. So what do you need to know? I think I can answer pretty much any question you may have." The girl glanced at each of the sisters, then at Leo, and then at Rueben, who was hiding in a cardboard box. She smiled at him and he ducked back into his lair. 

"Can you tell us how to vanquish her?" Paige posed the question flatly, praying that it didn't frighten her off. 

Eliza froze for a moment, drawing in her breath sharply. She had expected the question sooner or later, but she had preferred later. She sighed and let out the air in her lungs slowly. "Yes, I can tell you how to vanquish her."

A/N: Oh, God. This is taking a lot long than I though it would. I thought I'd be done after 10 parts, but now it looks as though I may have to write 12. Great, just what I need. An unfinished fic hanging over my head. Now I have to finish it twice as fast! Yippee for you, bad news for me. Oh well, I had fu with this part. Everything is sort of coming together now, don't you think? Things are being explained, etc. Feedback, people. I need feedback. Thanks! TTYL!

O_o --- That's me

*Dimples*


	10. The Key

The First Son

Part 10: The Key

"There's isn't really a vanquish that you can say to make her just go 'poof' and disappear. She was right when she told you that." Eliza brushed a strand of her hair out of her face and settled deeper into couch. She was nervous, having never been in contact with so many mortals before. She gulped, swallowing the dry taste in her mouth and continued. "But there is a key to her weakness. Leo, I think the elders told you what that was."

Leo nodded grimly. "It's you."

Piper's eyebrows shot up. "She's the key? How can she-" she stopped as the answer clicked in her head. "Oh, oh I understand. You're the only thing she ever truly loved."

Phoebe and Paige glanced at each other, suddenly let back into the ring of knowledge. Phoebe held her index finger in the air and tried to get someone's attention. "Alright, this is fine and dandy, but can someone tell me how we're supposed to get to the witch's weak spot if we don't even know where the witch is?"

Eliza shook her head. "Don't worry about that. I know where she is."

"Where?" Piper was on the edge of her seat, anxious at the thought of getting her baby back. 

"The cottage in the woods, where I was born. About twenty miles outside of Wales. It's still there, hidden by a magic mask. My mother made sure she disguised everything before she left the morning she was cursed. She had no idea what might happen if she didn't make it back. Not that it mattered anyway."

Leo stood and went to the book. He opened it and began flipping through the pages. He stopped about halfway through the book and prodded the page in front of him. "Here. We'll use this. It'll reveal the cottage and the witch so we don't have to hunt for an invisible house." He took the book to Paige, who copied the Revealing spell onto a piece of paper. After Leo put the book back, he glanced around the room. "Where's Rueben?"

His son appeared at his side, wearing a metal colander on his head. "I'm ready. Let's get Mel back." He grinned widely and trudged down the stairs, evaporating into a shadow of himself as he became nearly indefinable. They heard his voice call for them, but they saw no movement. "Are you coming? We don't have all day, ya know."

"He's becoming more like you everyday," Leo beamed at Piper. She grinned back at him and shook her head.

"He's his father's son."

***

Darkness was falling upon the countryside, leaving the witch to read her spells by candlelight. The infant in the cradle still remained motionless, quieted by her incantation. She looked about the room and wished that she could have some more of the technological advances that had been made during her banishment. A clock would have told her when the midnight hour would arrive, giving her the power she needed to take the child's soul. The power that she had wasted on its mother's premature labor, on the spells to keep its father from healing either of them. Just this one soul, not many as she had originally planned. This child was strong, and her magical skill alone could keep the ailing witch alive another millennium. It was all she needed, all she wanted. With this one child, she could have her life and her revenge in one felled swoop. 

***

Leo fell into step behind his son, who wore his colander proudly. He flashed in and out of visibility at the slightest noise, even though they were still traipsing around the manor. Leo caught him by the shoulder as he stumbled over a wrinkle in a rug, and pulled him back to his feet.

"Uh, Cap?"

Rueben turned abruptly and gave him a stern look. "Shh!"

His father opened his mouth to say something, only to be rewarded with another rude hiss. He was silenced, and shook his head with a smile. He really was just like Piper. Leo followed Rueben around the manor until his was satisfied that there was nothing for him to blow up, then escorted him back to the attic where the sisters were waiting. "Are you guys ready?"

"As ready as we'll ever be," Paige said, brandishing the revealing spell, along with a few others just in case something went wrong. "I'm not sure that Piper should come, though."

"Paige!" Piper glared at her youngest sister fiercely, trying to burn a hole in her head with her eyes. She averted her gaze and Piper turned to her husband. "I'm going, Leo."

"I don't know, Piper…" he trailed off, afraid to say no, that she might give him a harsh reproach.

"No! I'm going! I _will _help you, even if I have to do it lying on my back with both my legs broken! You cannot keep me away from this, so don't even try." Piper put her foot down, stamping the floor so hard the stained glass windows rattled. Leo gulped and took a step back.

"Okay, you can come… but you have to promise not to get in the way."

"Leo, I-"

"No!" He yelled, trying to get her to agree. She winced and he calmed his voice. "You can't get in between Lonyu and Rueben. I don't need to lose my wife and my daughter."

Piper lowered her eyes and thought. _I don't know if I can promise not to protect my son. That's like saying I promise not to breathe. But if this is what it has to be, then so be it. _"Alright. I'll try."

Leo nodded firmly. "Fine. I'm telling you now, if I take all of you with me, then I might not have enough energy to take you back, or to help you if you get into trouble."

Phoebe looked up at him. "Well, why don't you take us one at a time?"

"That would take even more energy. I would be too tired by the time I had taken just you and Rueben over. It just makes more sense to use it all up at once." 

She smiled and dipped her head. "Okay. We'll all go together."

The sisters stood, each carrying a parcel with special herbs or candles. Eliza took a step back and watch as they huddled around Leo. "Once you get there, you'll only have a few minutes before midnight. You'll have to summon me quickly, or all is lost…" She began to slowly fade away. "Blessed be."

Prue too, started to disappear. "Don't bother summoning me, you won't have time. But I'll be watching. Don't worry." 

Soon the room was quiet except for the nervous breathing of the Halliwell family. Leo squeezed his arms around the three women, while Rueben clung to his pant leg. "It's time."

***

The witch sensed a presence around her, thick with magic. She sniffed the air, trying to point out where it was coming from. She smelt to the east, toward the new Wales. There is where it was the strongest. She grinned brazenly, and reached into her bag. "You thought you could sneak up on me, Piper. You thought you were smarter than me after all these years. But you'll see, you'll see. No one can outdo me. Not even you and your sisters."

She mixed several herbs together in a leather pouch, then swung the bag around her head clockwise twice. "Once for sunrise, once for sunset. This will make things a little bit more difficult for you…

__

Twice around the pendulum swings

Perils, dangers, and disaster it brings

So bring me now a swindle or two

To hamper the witches that come forth anew

Outside her cottage door, about a hundred yards away, a wooden house materialized from under the ground. It settled onto the hilltop, the lights burning brightly in the windows. A thick wall suddenly exploded from the ground and surrounded both cabins. It was clear, indistinguishable to the untrained eye. Lonyu smiled and smothered her candle. Replacing the leather pouch into the larger bag, she retrieved a white cloth from under the bed. Wrapping the child up in it, she waved her hand over that cradle. Suddenly the baby began crying, struggling for enough air to sustain her. Her tiny lungs wheezed as she gasped, and failed at her battle. She squirmed, making tiny attempts at a last breath, but it was only a matter of seconds before the strength had left her, and she lay limp.

***

Piper gasped as a ripple of fear swept through her body. _Something's happening. My child is in trouble. Oh God, we have to hurry. _She glanced around at her new surroundings, at the field where Leo had orbed them. There were forests all around, except directly in front of them, where a heavily worn path led into a thicket of gnarled branches. Her sisters had already begun to set up the candles, and Phoebe lit them one by one as Paige rummaged through her bag for the spell. 

"Piper, come on! We don't have much time." 

She looked away from the path, which seemed to draw her away from the group. She felt it pulling her with some unknown force, felt it calling to her. Whispers in her ears threw her off balance, sending her head into a spin.

__

Comeandgethercomeandgethercomeandgethercomeandgether.

Repetition of the same phrase over and over caught in her mind. _Don't worry, I'm coming, baby. _

"Piper!" Phoebe grabbed her arm and dragged her back into the circle. Rueben huddled over his father's weakened form a few feet away. She chanted in time with her sisters while she watched him struggle to sit up. Flickering caught her attention and her gaze was lured back to the candles. Eliza materialized from a mist and stepped forward.

"Let's go, we don't have much time." She nodded toward the path and her walk turned to a jog. "If she wants what I think she wants, then your child could already be dead."

Piper sprinted ahead of Eliza, giving Leo a final distraught look before leaving him in the clearing. She took Rueben's hand and began to run, her tears streaking her face. _No, not yet. I have to have more time. _

Seconds later, it was as though she had crossed a threshold into a new world. There was a sick sucking noise as she was yanked along the road. Her sisters, Rueben, and Eliza followed through the portal, and stopped suddenly as they looked around.

The ground was covered in snow at least a foot deep. Freezing rain poured from the sky and Piper shivered as a cool breeze ripped through her thin sweaterjacket, blowing up the back of her shirt. Phoebe pulled at her arm, trying to get her to move on. In the distance, she saw the outlines of two houses on top of a hill. _I've got you now, hag. _She traipsed through the snow, dragging her son behind her. He lit a flame in his hand to guide the way in the pitch black night, that also kept them warm in the blizzard. 

Eliza pressed ahead, making a trail in the frost that they all walked in. "She's cast another spell!" she cried through the wind. "She's taken us back to the night I was born! She's going to make you relive it, Piper!"

Piper covered her face as ice showered down on her. "Why?! Why me?!" 

"Because you stole the only man she had ever loved! You stole Leo's heart, even back in the Dark Ages!" 

The statement made the puzzle fall together in front of Piper's eyes. It was the last piece, the last missing idea that helped it all make sense. She let the last tear slip down her face and freeze before she took off towards the cabins. As she drew closer, she noticed the uncanny resemblance between them.

"It's another trick! Which one is the real cottage?!" Paige came up beside her and huddled close for warmth. 

Piper studied both for a moment, before choosing the one with the dimmed lights. _You can't fool me. A maternal instinct is much stronger than a killer instinct. _She trudged toward the door of the second house with Rueben close behind her. Before she had a chance to reach the stoop, the entrance was flung open, and Lonyu stepped out into the cold. In her arms she held a tiny bundle wrapped in white. She grinned up at her slyly as she held out the parcel to her.

"You're too late! She's mine, and there's nothing you can do about it!"

"No!" Rueben pushed past his mother and threw a giant ball of blue fire at the witch. She grunted and fell to the ground, spilling the contents of the blanket into the snow. 

"Mel!" Piper reached out to her stiff child on the ground, but Phoebe pulled her back.

"Piper, stop! Remember what Leo said!"

She collapsed backward as Rueben pressed ahead. Lonyu got to her feet and glared at the boy. "You shouldn't have done that." She swung her arm around her head, as though she were winding up to throw something. A black orb of energy filled her hand and she let go as it circled back toward Rueben. He threw his hand up, sending flying into a sycamore a hundred yards off. He was about ready to throw another ball of fire when Eliza tapped his arm. 

"Wait, let me try." She walked in front of him, and he bathed her with a light from a flame in his hand. "Mother… mother, what have you done?"

Lonyu faltered, her pale skin draining of the last of its color. "H…how did you…?"

"What have you done, mother?" Eliza repeated. "Look at the child in the snow. Look at her! What have you done?"

"I was only repaying them what they took from me! You…you should have lived! You should have survived, but because of them you died! You died!"

"It was never their fault, mother! They didn't cast that lust spell, they didn't sleep with Leonard, and they certainly didn't extinguish the fire in the mantle the night I was born! It was you! It was your hatred, and your greed, and your stupidity that killed me, mother! It was your cold heart that killed me!" Eliza's words clung to the air, stopped the snow from falling, stopped the wind's persistent howling. She breathed heavily as Lonyu took a few steps backward, tripping over the snow at her door. 

"No… no, baby, I loved you! I loved you more than anything!"

"You only loved that I was Leonard's child. That you had conceived me by him, and that you had a piece of him inside of you. You never loved me. You were incapable of love." Eliza sneered at her mother, dragging out the conversation so Rueben could regain his strength. Slowly, she watched him as he built up the flame in his hand. It was the size of a golfball, a softball, a basketball, and finally it's size exceeded comparison, and he threw it. 

Time stood still as it arched across the expanse between he and the witch. She turned her face into it, screaming as the fire enveloped her. Her ancient clothing went up as though it were doused in kerosene, and Rueben watched with stony eyes as she cried out to her daughter.

"Eliza! Eliza, please, help me!"

The girl shook her head, and turned to Piper and her sisters. "Use the incantation from the book. Send her to hell, where she belongs."

Piper nodded through her tears, and read the spell with her sisters. 

__

Called forth from the depths of hell

Send her back there, forever to dwell

The once powerful witch will reside

Where the devil sleeps and demons hide

Lonyu writhed in pain, the smell of burning flesh sending a wave of sickness through the group. A hole opened in the ground beneath the witch's feet and she fell, swallowed by the earth, into her eternity in hell. All around them, the spells that Lonyu had cast dissolved. The cloned cabin disappeared in a puff of smoke, and the portal into the Dark Ages closed around them. The snow and ice melted in a heartbeat, leaving only slush and puddles on the ground

Piper rushed over to her baby, whose small face was partially covered in water. She lifted the tiny body and held her close to her chest for the first time, and what she thought to be the last. _Oh God, no. Nononononono. Oh God, help me. Please help me. _Rueben knelt at her side, and put a hand on her shoulder. 

"Let me try something, mom. I want to help." His meek voice filled with power, and he took her child from her. He pressed his fingers to his sister's bare shoulder. He closed his eyes and shot a volt of lightening through her skin, to her heart. He shocked her again, and then pressed his lips to hers, giving her a slow breath. After another shock, and another breath, Rueben felt her meager pulse beneath his hand. Although she made no movement at all, he knew she was alive. "We have to get her to dad. He can finish the job."

Piper sobbed a sigh of relief, and held her daughter's chilled form to her body. She stood and ran, leaving the others to bid Eliza a farewell on their own.

***

"Leo! Leo, come quickly! Leo, I need you!" Piper covered Melinda's body with her jacket, protecting her from the branches that snapped in front of her. The clearing loomed ahead of her, and she ran faster, praying that she wasn't too late. Leo sat propped up against a tree, resting his eyes. A soft blue glow surrounded him, and he seemed to be sucking the energy from the tree. His eyes snapped open when he heard Piper cry out to him, and he got to his feet slowly. He met his wife halfway through the field and she held their child out to him.

"Heal her, Leo! Heal her!" She sobbed into the blanket that Lonyu had wrapped her baby in. "Hurry, before it's too late!"

Leo took Melinda in his arms, and knelt on the grass. He could feel the life flowing through her, however faint it was. He pressed his last amounts of strength into her limp body, and his hands glowed blindingly with the power. A few seconds later, he was rewarded with the purest of all sounds: his daughter's cries. He burst into tears as he lifted her and held her, watching the color return to her body and a living warmth overcome her. He let her wail in his ear, and wrapped his free arm around Piper as they wept together with happiness

A/N: OMG!!!!!! It took a snow day and sleeping until noon to get this out. Even though I only write well at like two in the morning, I still had all day to think about this before putting down on paper at quarter to three. At last, I have a finished piece! Well, it's not **_completely _**finished. I still have to write the epilogue. Until then, I hope you enjoyed The First Son! I loved all your replies, they were such a great help!

*Dimples*


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